Effects of HIV protease, nucleoside/non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors on Bax, Bcl-2 and apoptosis in two cervical cell lines.

Protease inhibitors (PIs) and reverse transcriptase drugs are important components of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for treating human acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Long-term clinical therapeutic efficacy and treatment compliance of these agents have been limited by undesirable adverse effects and their oncogenicity has been queried. This study investigated the effects of selected antiretroviral agents on the expression of key apoptotic regulatory genes; Bax and Bcl-2 in two cervical cell lines HCS-2 and NCE16IIA by real-time qPCR gene expression and immunocytochemistry.